It’s hard to put into words what exactly it is except perhaps to describe what’s currently going on in Hong Kong to get something up and running as a runaway train mixed with too much viagra and having a smorgasbord of chefs and chiefs throwing everything against the wall and with no one willing to bet that anything will actually stick.
It’s a lot of random potluck and plenty of much ado about everything that quickly dissipates into nothing.
Think about this conga line of tacos and burritos and dim sums and then sums: A short lived razzle dazzle “Hello Hong Kong” reboot and relaunch promotion, then vouchers to get people to spend that’s kinda like bribery, another short lived campaign, this time, a “Thank You, Hong Kong” campaign, more vouchers, something or another in the night market and former red light area of Temple Street called “night vibes”, more vouchers as greed has now become insatiable, and something or another from my great amigos from the HKJC the Institute Of Philanthropy.
There’s so much of everything going on to give the perception of help and coming at us from so many directions at the same time that everything kinda sinks into the murky waters of inevitable blandness.
It’s like watching a new video from the HKJC where no one will ever know know what it’s for- it’s actually for CATERING RECRUITMENT- with every cornball advertising cliché thrown into the mix including how serving members of the one-time rich folks club will “have an impact on society”. Oh, please, dear god.
Though not as daft as trying to make jockeys look like brooding indie movie stars or Aussie jockey Hugh Bowman aimlessly wandering around endorsing the Hong Kong cultural building that is Tai Kwun, and Mauritian jockey Karis Teetan pulled into endorsing something or another to do with philanthropy, it’s a very very sad example of the level of creativity in Hong Kong.
All this everything has to do with organisations completely out of sync with the mood of the city.
Hong Kong doesn’t want all this foo foo fakery from the usual bakeries and sausage factories. Au contraire, mes eleves.
Hong Kong is trying to figure out what IT wants for ITSELF- especially the new generation of consumers who don’t believe a word that’s being said or promised who might not even be here in five years.
Trying to reach this new generation with corporate clichés is a complete turn off.
Often one looks at what’s being produced and says, “Que?”
How much of the taxpayers’ money has just been flushed away?
How much longer can there be more brand damage done through mixed messages and credibility of leadership lost in egos, fireworks, light shows and false senses of pomp and circumstance?
Why has the all-China produced television series “Blossoms Shanghai” directed by Wong Kar-wal resonated with so many from very different age groups?
It has because maybe it’s honest, romantic and exquisitely produced.
Not everything works according to “data” and what “KOLs” and overrated academics and The Foo Foo camp have to say.
It’s always about what you believe is talking directly and only to you and which you can discuss with others in person who enjoy intelligent conversation about the same thing and through which there can be created a chain reaction of interest and, yes, an emotional connection.
Those in Hong Kong with all the money to fund this should come down from the mountain and see how the other half lives. Put down the corporate commandments.
This way we might have a chance of getting somewhere instead of going everywhere but ending up nowhere because the wheels dropped off years ago and those in charge refusing to admit this.
The natives are getting restless.
